Tag Archives: new age

With the introduction of The Michael Teachings, I began my free-fall down yet another rabbit-hole of self-awareness.

Michael claims to be a group of soul “fragments” that have reunited into one, unified group consciousness. Every fragment from that “entity” (Michael terminology for spiritual family) has completed its round of incarnations on the physical plane. Now, the entity of soul fragments exists on and teaches from the causal plane (about one plane removed from the physical plane: physical, astral, causal, *akashic, mental, messianic, buddhic).

This is some far-out stuff, huh?

If all of what Michael says about themselves is true, then I’m literally studying with thousands of dead people!

As “out-there” as this possibility seemed to me at the time I was first introduced to the teachings (and still does from time-to-time), this was not what stood out to me the most.

What stood out to me the most about Michael and their teaching and what really got my attention was their unconditional understanding and compassion for my human experience.

As I began to read as much of their channeled material as possible and work with them in my own private sessions, I was struck by the fact that they never made me or their other students wrong, never scolded, never shamed, never became impatient with us. On the one hand, they could be extremely direct and blunt with their information and perspective (which could be very unflattering for the ego!) and yet come across as only kind, caring and compassionate in their motivation and intention.

My very first in-person channeling session with Michael was in the context of a group session. Most of the other people there knew each other, already, but I didn’t know a soul (pun intended!). The channel (Troy of TruthLoveEnergy) asked Michael to speak about a general topic that might benefit the group and then allowed each person to ask Michael a personal question.

When my turn came to ask Michael a question, I wanted to know about a specific man whom I had been getting to know on an intimate level. The conversation went something like this:

“Hi, Michael.”

“Hello, Nicholas.”

“I have been dating this guy for a few weeks, and we have a very intense connection. We’re both attracted to each other, and we both want to be together, but he is pushing me away. He is HIV positive, and this adds complications to our getting to know each other. But I have assured him that we can figure it out together, and that I am not put-off by his status. I just want to know what is going on with him and why he is so resistant?”

“First-off, we would ask you – why are you not asking him this question?

I tried to hide my embarrassment from the group and responded with,

“Well, I know I can talk to him about this, but I am wondering if there is anything going on that he is not telling me?”

“From what we can see, there is nothing more going on here than what you already know. He is afraid.”

And that was that. There may have been a bit more said, but I can’t remember at this point. What I do remember is that in that moment I learned an important lesson about relationships and communication that I took with me and applied across the board in my life.

Still, my start with these teachings was tentative in many ways, as I had been prone to gullibility in the past and was at a place in my own personal evolution where I was beginning to doubt and question ideas and the sources of those ideas.

Also, because Michael’s delivery of their teaching was not flowery or gushing with emotion, I was suspicious. I had been used to other new age-y sources that were full of feeling, sentiment and “personality.” At first, I was a bit taken aback by this lack of feeling and all of the “heady” intellectual terminology and concepts. I wondered if there was any practical merit to the teachings, or were they just a means for navel gazing and intellectual masturbation.

My second interaction with Michael helped me to shift this initial reaction to their content and style of teaching. This interaction was also in a group format, but via an internet chat room.

If you are not familiar with Michael’s delivery and terminology, you may want to go slowly and even reread this excerpt several times:

[Nick] I have recently had an inner realization reading a book on Adviata/Non-Duality (The Outrageous Myths of Enlightenment by Stephen Wingate). Where do your teachings fit in with the main teaching of Advaita, which says that Consciousness Is-And we are THAT. There is no separate self. The separate self is an illusion. My question, specifically, is around the idea of CHOICE and FREE WILL. Michael always speaks of CHOICE, but who has CHOICE if there is only ONE…? Isn’t choice by the personality/Ego merely an illusion?

[Michael Entity] Our response to this would be that there is validity to that philosophy, but as with many higher philosophies, they are rather tunnel-visioned. Of course, if one were to look at the original source (Tao, God, All-That-Is, etc.) and see that this ultimate force generated this universe, it could be easy to say, “where was my choice in this?” However, we encourage you to look at your current lifetime for that answer. It may be true that your parents birthed you and therefore, “you” had no choice in being born, but what you have done since that point HAS been your choice.

With that in mind, we suggest looking at the parameters of Choice as being more accurately understood as Choices WITHIN. In other words, “you” may not have chosen to be created as a Personality, but you DO have choice WITHIN the life that you have. You may have limitations on certain aspects of life due to physiological, psychological, geographical, socio-economical parameters, but you do have choice WITHIN those limitations.

Choice exists on all levels, even down to the cellular and subatomic levels, however the magnitude of impact and parameters increase the “higher” one goes. On cellular levels, for instance, choice is atomic, simply used as a matter of navigation.

[Nick] Who has this choice? The personality/Ego? I have seen that the personality/EGO is not real…it is a collection of memories, thoughts, ideas, beliefs, self-image. So, who has the choice? Essence?

[Michael Entity] The “who” of the choice-making is relative to the context. The more limited the context, the more linear the choice-making. The broader the context, the higher the consciousness used, and the more non-linear the choice-making. In the end, it is ALL “you,” though the more linear aspects may disagree. And that is their prerogative. The more limited the choice, the more power the choice-maker has in that context. Think of the horse and rider, with the rider being Essence and the Personality being the horse. The horse will always have the specific details about the more limited contexts of where to step next, and can always buck the rider, if he chooses to do so. Or they can work together with one seeing the higher perspective for guidance, while the more focused perspective can navigate the terrain.

Within a lifetime, both Essence and Personality have choice, however, Personality has the ultimate power of choice within the lifetime. Essence will not interfere with the choices of Personality. Personality can choose to reject Essence and navigate the life completely “on its own.” However, Personality eventually learns how to manifest Essence and co-create the life through choices that are made on the levels of Personality, and leaving the higher patterns to Essence. If any of you choose to see yourselves as illusions and that your lives are merely the products of some higher force’s choices, you are missing the point. But that is your choice.

We would not agree with the philosophies that render the ego, the personality, or the lifetime as merely illusions. That is a perspective lacking in compassion and awareness, as your collections of memories, thoughts, beliefs, self-image are as “real” to YOU as any other level of reality is “real” to the observer that is “there.” We are certain that “Tao” knows of all of us as being as “real” as itself, much like any creator of expression or art, or builder of plans, or teacher of thought would think of the creation, structure, or impact as having as much life and validity as the creator, builder, teacher, etc. We would think it very difficult for any of you to prove you and your experiences are merely illusion, which is not to say that many of you cloud the experiences and often sensationalize the journey with unwarranted fears, but that is part of the human experience and you eventually clear the way. Until you clear the way, even the clouding and distortion is as “real” as it is to you, until it is not.

[Nick] Okay…I understand both perspectives, and I think that I will have to keep looking into my own experience…

[Michael Entity] “Feisty,” that is a fair analysis: that both perspectives hold valid truths.

~ Channeled by Troy Tolley of TruthLoveEnergy

This conversation with Michael had a subtle yet powerful impact on me. Here was a teacher that didn’t try to convince me of anything but left plenty of room for me to grapple with the information and come to some understanding and perspective on my own.

I believe this blog has already grown lengthy, and I hope I didn’t lose any of you reading!

But if you just read that, then you are still with me. Great!

I will wrap it up, then, and leave you with a summary of what to me are some of the most important core ideas that Michael encourages us to explore, if we feel so inclined:

*We are essence/spirit/consciousness at our core.*We chose to incarnate, to have this physical plane experience.*Reincarnation is valid.*Essence/soul makes the choices that setup a lifetime, but once born and after the first breath, personality has complete “control” over the lifetime through its choices.*Essence does not impose or interfere with a lifetime unless personality consciously or unconsciously invites it to “help” and/or participate in the lifetime.*Choice is our most powerful tool.*All choices are valid.*No lifetime is wasted; every choice evolves the soul, even if only very slowly. *Karma is valid. *Karma is intensity and imbalance that is created when we interfere with our own or others’ choices. *Karma serves to propel evolution forward, as the soul seeks to balance the karma and balance all karma before “cycling off” the physical plane *As the soul gains experience through its personalities, it evolves in soul age perspective and progressively “remembers itself.”
*Essence has a design that remains the same throughout all of its physical plane cycle and beyond, but personality is designed differently for each lifetime *The point of a lifetime is to be physical and experience the physical plane.

And finally, one sentence that sums up Michael’s entire teaching:

*We are here to learn how to choose and to choose how to learn.*

~

In the next few posts, I will talk about Michael’s overleaf system: a kind of soul and personality map for understanding our own and others’ being, expression and behavior. I’ll do this from the very personal angle of sharing my own essence and personality profile that I received from Michael and discussing its very profound impact on me.

synchronicity = the simultaneous occurrence of events that appear significantly related but have no discernible causal connection

~

I have noticed much synchronicity in my life, and I have always been fascinated by it. Whenever it occurs, I feel as if Great Mystery is revealing a little bit more of itself to me.

How I found the Michael Teachings was quite synchronous, but before I share that story, I’d like to give you a bit of background so that you can have more context for what lead up to this event.

I have always been curious about the “unseen,” but I was raised in a fairly conservative home with Southern Baptist roots. In fact, my grandfather was the pastor of a church that was literally right around the block from my childhood home. It is an understatement to say that growing up, “I was all up in the church!”

In many ways, the church fed my curiosity for Spirit, even though, as time went by, I began to let go of the doctrine and dogma of the church. My experiences and my intuitive awareness lead me along other paths of learning that better satisfied my questions and yearning to understand my life.

Sometime around the age of 16 (1994), I happened upon an Astrology book in the New Age section of a local bookstore (The Only Astrology Book You’ll Ever Need). I had already been familiar with my Sun Sign (Capricorn), but I had never known there were 9 other planets in my astrological chart, and that each of these planets’ positions in the chart symbolized some kind of thematic pattern in my life.

Right there in the bookstore, I flipped to the ephemeris (a table where you can find the position of the planets in the signs at any given time) in the back of the book so that I could learn what my Moon Sign was. I learned that my Moon Sign was/is Scorpio. As I read the description for this, I was blown away! How could a book know such intimate details about my inner nature? I was a teenager, after all, and like many teenagers, I felt very lonely and thought that no one understood me. But there it was-very perceptive and accurate insights about the more intimate and private nature of my psyche (the moon in astrology symbolizes your deep subconscious nature and instincts, your inner personality and your soul life).

That was it! I was hooked and had to learn all I could about how astrology, having never met me, could know so much about me!

I didn’t know it then, but this was the beginning of my personal spiritual journey. And I mean spiritual in the sense of gaining knowledge and awareness about my self with a capital “S.”

Fast on the heels of astrology came tarot. My friend gave me an over-sized tarot deck (the Thoth deck), and I began to study how to best use this tool and how to strengthen my intuition.

Then came many books like One Day My Soul Just Opened Up, A Course in Miracles and Conversations With God (the trilogy!), as well as my first foray into meditation practice.

It was like I was following a rabbit down a hole, and I had no idea where it was leading…but I had to follow.

In 2003, Reiki entered my life (and this synchronous event deserves its own post…coming soon!) and signaled a dramatic turning point along my spiritual path. It was as if all that I had been exploring and studying became integrated, and I was then able to use what I had learned and share it with others. This is when I began to offer my intuitive services professionally.

The Reiki path was a new rabbit-hole, and it lead me to a wonderful teacher in New York City, where I spent 4 years working on healing myself (emotionally, mentally and spiritually…again, that’s another post altogether!) and training in the spiritual healing and counseling arts so that I could offer professional healing and counseling support to others.

It was during this time that I was introduced to the Michael Teachings.

Previous to this time, I had already been introduced to channeled material from sources like Lazaris, Abraham (of Abraham-Hicks) and Seth. So I was aware of the process called “channeling.” I had even been entertaining the idea that, with practice, I could also learn to channel healing insights and information from sources other than myself (I was already channeling energy via the Reiki tools I had been using). But I had never had a personal experience with one of these “sources”…until I did!

In 2007, I was studying and training in the crystal healing arts. I had developed a good relationship with my teacher and often assisted him during his classes. This teacher would always bring many crystals with him to sell, and the room was lit-up with beautiful stones, some of which were from Brazil where “John of God” (one the most documented mediums and healers in modern times) resides.

During a break in the class, I had become enamored with one stone in particular, an angelic quartz generator that had my heart in that moment. As I held the stone and gazed into its frosty inner chambers, my heart opened and tears started to flow. I then felt a presence at the top of my head. It felt like someone had placed their hand lightly on my head. The presence was so distinct, I naturally asked “Who’s there?”

“Michael” was the response.

“Archangel Michael?” I half-asked the presence and half-wondered to myself. But when no response came, I didn’t think much more of it. It was dismissed as my imagination.

The class resumed and I quickly let go of that strange experience. Then, during the next break, a lady with fiery red hair walked over to me. Since the class began, I had been staring at her, trying not to be conspicuous about it. But I found her to be beautiful, and there was this “light” around her, some thing that kept drawing my attention to her.

She asked me very casually, “Have you heard of the Michael Teachings?”

“Funny you should ask,” I said, “because I just had this strange experience with that stone over there where a presence at the top of my head said its name was Michael.”

“Yep, you’re a Michael student. You remind me of a channel I work with. You’re probably in the same cadre (a term Michael uses to describe certain spiritual families) as us. Just google the Michael Teachings and start reading. You can also checkout Troy’s website (Troy of TruthLoveEnergy).”

And that was that. She went back to her seat, and the class resumed.

I was in shock and awe.

Well, as soon as I got home, I did google the Michael Teachings, and I did checkout Troy’s website.

The rest is history.

In Part II, I will share what it was like to begin studying this teaching and its impact on me, as well as describing my first interactions and conversations with Michael through a channel.